3D printer startup Nanofabrica raises $4 million led by Microsoft venture arm

Tel Aviv-based startup uses optical technology to enable 3D printing of precision parts for electronic, semiconductor, medical products

Shoshanna Solomon was The Times of Israel's Startups and Business reporter

The Nanofabrica team (Idan Gil)
The Nanofabrica team (Idan Gil)

Nanofabrica, a startup that develops 3D printers for the manufacturing of electronic and optical parts, said Sunday it has raised $4 million in a funding round led by Microsoft’s venture arm M12 and NextLeap Ventures.

The funding will be used to further the startup’s research and development work as well as expand its sales, Nanofabrica said in a statement. To date the company has raised a total of $7 million.

“Nanoscale, precision manufacturing is a growing need for R&D organizations, as well as production-scale manufacturing companies,” said M12 partner Matthew Goldstein in the statement. Nanofabrica’s technology enables “digital mass manufacturing of precision parts.”

NextLeap Ventures is an investor group made up of former employees of Intel Corp.

The Tel Aviv-based startup has developed 3D printing technology that enables the mass digital manufacturing of precise and complex parts for semiconductors, optical and medical devices.

Nanofabrica was founded in 2016 by Jon Donner, CEO, who holds a PhD in nano optics, and Eyal Shelef, CTO, who previously led material development at HP-Indigo. The startup has customers in a variety of countries and industries, and has worked with over ten Fortune 500 companies, the statement said.

The startup added that it has been studying ways to use its “ultra-precise manufacturing capabilities” to support efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic, and is in talks with researchers and manufacturers.

M12, Microsoft’s venture fund, invests in enterprise software companies in the Series A through C funding stages with a focus on applied AI, business applications, infrastructure, security. M12 in March said it was pulling its investment from an Israeli facial-recognition startup AnyVision, because of concerns regarding the use of its technology.

 

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